EMPTIES: July 2016

by - August 10, 2016


Oops! I'm a little late with my empties this month! I was actually planning on having this post written and posted while I was away on holidays, but things just got away from me. Still, I wanted to get the empties out so that I could move forward. There won't be a July Favorites post this month, specifically because I found that I was really reaching for all the same things in July that I reached for in June and I just couldn't think of any products that really stood out for the month. Anyway, as usual there are always empties!

To see what I used up along with mini reviews, keep reading!


L'Oreal Hair Expertise Color Radiance Shampoo & Conditioner
These have actually become some of my favorites recently, particularly now that I have fashion colour in my hair. I find that these do a really good job of getting my hair feeling and looking clean and soft without stripping my colour. As I'm pretty consistently trying out different hair products, it took me a while to finish these, but I found that I always ended up going back to them. I will likely pick these up again if I get a lull in new hair products to try out for the blog!

Ion Color Brilliance Brights in Fuscia
So. I do really like the Ion Color Brilliance hair colors, but this one didn't turn out the way I was expecting at all. Based on the box colour and the hair examples in Sally, I was expecting this to be a lot more purple than it turned out, but once I rinsed my hair it was more of a warm raspberry shade than I was hoping for. Unless I'm looking for that shade, I won't use this particular dye again.

WELLA Color Charm Hair Color in 5N Light Brown & WELLA Color Charm Cream Developer 20 Volume
I had never used the WELLA hair colour before, but my roots were getting a little bit crazy with the grays and I needed something to just fix them up before my trip without actually going over my whole hair - because I have a balayage ombré at the moment and that's just not something I want to mess with without the help of my hairdresser. This was a little warmer than I was expecting it to be, but it ended up looking alright and the colour has lasted really well in my hair. I would choose a different shade next time, something a little cooler, but I would use these again.


NSPA Indulging Shea Butter and Caramel Body Polish
Admittedly, this has been hanging out mostly used up in my shower for an uncomfortably long time. I did like it when I was using it, but that was so long ago that I don't even know what to say about it. It smelled yummy and did a good job of exfoliating my body, but I wouldn't buy it again because I have other scrubs that I prefer.

Garnier Body Repair Reparative Balm
THIS IS AMAZING? Is this still available? I need to go looking because this is possibly my favorite body lotion of all time. I mostly use this in the winter when my skin needs some serious hydration, because this stuff is INTENSE, but I used it up on my feet in the last month or so because they also needed some serious help. I legitimately can't say enough good things about this product. For people with dry to very dry skin looking for something affordable and intense, this is a huge winner.


Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
For a long time, I would have said that this mascara was my favorite because the effect it gives my lashes is pretty amazing, but I've found some others that I like a little better now specifically because this one has a HUGE wand and can be a little bit smudgey. It's good, don't get me wrong, but not my favorite.

City Color BOLD 3X Extreme Volume Mascara
I got this in an Ipsy bag, I believe, and I used it twice. Literally. And it was NOT GOOD. The smudging was unbearable and it didn't really do anything for my lashes. Do no recommend and will not repurchase ever.

Hope Girl 140 Super Lash Mascara
So I stopped using this one ages ago, but for some reason it was still in my mascara bucket. When I was using this, I loved it. It gave me really good length and was quite black. If this was easily available, I would probably buy it again, but I wouldn't go out of my way to track it down.

NYX Wonder Stick Highlight And Contour in Light
So, I only used the contour side of this and the highlight side is still almost completely full, but I don't really like using a heavy cream highlight so this is going in the trash. The contour side was great though, and I would definitely consider picking this up again. My one tip? Don't overblend this, because it absolutely will blend away completely if you're not careful.

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water
Lookit this cute little sample! I can't give this product the kind of raves that I've seen other people give it, because I don't think it was mindblowing or anything like that, but I did enjoy using it under makeup and I do think that it helped to slightly increase the wear time of my makeup. I won't repurchase this, but I do have another sample that I'll happily work through.

Chella Tantalizing Taupe Eyebrow Color
This is another Ipsy product and one that I really, really enjoyed using. This was actually what I reached for on really light makeup days when I wanted to fill in my brows but I wanted it to be quite subtle and easy. I think that if I were to repurchase this, I'd go for a slightly darker shade because this was quite light, but I would definitely considering grabbing it again.


Celkin Q-10 Makeup Remover Cleansing Wipes
Meh. I picked this up at Walmart and they were definitely not my favorite. I don't think that they got all of the makeup off, I didn't love the cloth, and I think they smelled cheap. Wouldn't repurchase.

MEDI-HEAL Lemon Lime ADE Sheet Mask
I'm finding myself really impressed with these MEDI-HEAL face masks and I'm definitely going to pick up more for the future. I actually can't honestly remember any specifics about when I used this, other than that I liked it and I feel like it was a really good fit for my face. If you see these locally, I would definitely recommend picking one up.

FACE Q Hydrating Foot Masque
This was actually something of a revelation. I hadn't ever tried a foot mask, but when I saw them at Superstore while I was having some issues with dry, cracked heels I decided to give it a go. The results aren't instant, but within a couple of days I noticed a really big improvement in my feet and I have since repurchased another one of these.

KORRES Wild Rose Vitamin C Peel
This sample definitely wasn't enough for me to know if this was really effective - but I recall one of the steps really, really being uncomfortable on my face. I would consider trying this again to get a better read on how I feel about it, but I have another sample that I want to try first and I'm not running out to pick it up.

PUR Cosmetics Correcting Primer Prep & Perfect
I actually really liked this primer sample. I felt like it did help to give me a smooth canvas for makeup. I'm not sure I can say that it improved the wear time of my makeup, but the application was really nice and I would definitely try it again. I definitely want to try more products from PUR Cosmetics.

VICHY Normaderm Night Detox
I used this sample on days when I was struggling a little bit with hormonal breakouts, but I'm not really sure I saw much of a difference. Honestly, when it comes to products for breakouts, I'm really bad at reviewing them just because that's not a huge issue for me. I didn't see any ill effects from this product, but it didn't wow me either.


So there you go! I feel pretty proud of myself for consistently working through products lately so that I have empties every month. In the past, I've been the type of person who will almost use something up and the hoard it because I don't want it to be finished. Anyone else like that? I'm trying to be more diligent about getting things out of my collection at a pace that is at least near to how quickly things are being added to my collection.

Thanks for reading!

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